“The rise of China” is a critical issue of the twenty-first century’s world politics. China is leading the new bipolar system in the post-Cold War period with the US. As the American dominance in East Asia became weaker, the old containment could not be fully implemented anymore. As a result, a new comprehensive strategic initiative covering the whole Pacific coastal States is being adopted. The outcome of this transformation is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was reached on October 5, 2015. This article aims to analyze the newly arisen TPP as a post-Cold War strategic alliance of East Asia. The TPP is a mega regional trade agreement. Its predictable legal setting is thus indispensable for the peaceful coordination of competition between both sides. The TPP could be a firm ground for the stability of this region, sharing the vision of cooperation, not confrontation in the future.

The multilateralization of international investment law has witnessed repeated disappointments over the past six decades. Current negotiations regarding the Investment Chapter within the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement may bring about a new promise for this process. It is necessary for the TPP negotiating parties to have a proper understanding of this recent history. Circumstances under which the TPP negotiations are conducted are quite different from those of the past. Thus, it can be assumed that TPP negotiations will be concluded successfully and may have profound implications on the multilateralization of international investment law. Since TPP negotiations have multilateral consequences, several new initiatives have been proposed amongst the TPP negotiating parties, which may help alleviate the ‘legitimacy crisis’ of the past two decades. These initiatives include a new principle of Special and Differential treatment, operative provisions on investment promotion, a Side Agreement on code of conduct of transnational corporations, and an appellate mechanism for reviewing arbitral awards.